Great article: YOU SHOULD NEVER TELL YOUR KIDS “HE’S MEAN BECAUSE HE LIKES YOU”

"When girls get teased or bullied by boys, there’s often someone who pulls out this tired phrase: 'I bet he likes you!' Joanna Schroeder vividly remembers finally going to a teacher about a boy’s constant harassment at age 11, and how that phrase made her feel: it “filled me with a shame so profound, I never again told an adult about something a boy did to me.” In her recent article, “You Should Never Tell Your Kids He’s Mean Because He Likes You,” Schroder writes, “You’d think blaming bad behavior on a crush would be dead and gone by now, but it’s not.” To encourage parents and other adults to think about what “he must like you” really teaches, she breaks down the four reasons we need to stop associating mistreatment with romantic affection."